In recent years, e-mail has served as main communication means for organizations, such as corporations. In this e-mail, a TO destination and a CC destination can be specified with ease, and thus, in organizations, such as corporations, many e-mails in which a plurality of destinations have been specified are transmitted. That is, many e-mails are transmitted from a transmitting terminal to a plurality of receiving terminals. On the other hand, a message is sometimes returned in response to an e-mail transmitted from a transmitting terminal to a plurality of receiving terminals. In many cases, a message is returned from a receiving terminal specified as a TO destination, and a message is returned from a receiving terminal specified as a CC destination too when necessary.
However, among the messages, there may be also a message containing a small amount of information. Here, messages containing a small amount of information are, for example, short replies, such as “Noted” and “Thanks”, a request to delete a mail address specified as a CC destination, a request to add a mail address of another user as a CC destination, a notification of misdirection, and the like. In an existing transmitting terminal, such messages containing a small amount of information have also been individually checked. Hence, there has been a problem in that a load imposed on a transmitting terminal checking messages from a plurality of receiving terminals responsive to an e-mail transmitted from the transmitting terminal to the plurality of receiving terminals is high.
In a receiving terminal, to convey a message containing a small amount of information, such as the above message, a message is created in response to an e-mail transmitted from a transmitting terminal in each case. Hence, as the total number of e-mails containing a CC destination received by a user increases, a load imposed on the user creating a message with a receiving terminal increases.